Essay prompts from the most recent SAT administration

Below are essay prompts from the most recent SAT administration in June 2013.

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Our cherished notions of what is equal and what is fair frequently
conflict. Democracy presumes that we are all created equal; competition
proves we are not, or else every contest would end in a tie. We talk
about a level playing field, but it is difficult to make conditions
equal for everyone without being unfair to some.
Adapted from Nancy Gibbs, "Cool Running"Assignment: Is it possible for a society to be fair to everyone?
Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this
issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from
your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Prompt 2

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Many colleges now offer courses in which students study television
programs, comic books, magazines, advertising, and other aspects of
popular culture. Critics complain that schools should not replace
serious literature and history courses with such fluff. They claim that
courses in popular culture present material that is trivial and
inconsequential. But the study of popular culture can be just as
important, demanding, and instructive as the study of traditional
subjects.Assignment: Can the study of popular culture be as valuable as
the study of traditional literary and historical subjects? Plan and
write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.
Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your
reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Prompt 3

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Many voters think that integrity and character are the most important
qualifications for political office. I disagree. Integrity—the quality
of standing up for the same values in every situation—is not a good
qualification for getting people to work together. Strongly held morals
may make a candidate too inflexible and incapable of negotiation. And if
character were really so important, candidates would be judged by their
personal relationships rather than by their ability to deal with a
community's or a nation's problems.
Adapted from Stanley Fish, "Integrity or Craft: The Leadership Question"Assignment: Is strong moral character the most important
qualification for a leader? Plan and write an essay in which you develop
your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning
and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or
observations.

Prompt 4

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Thanks to the Internet, people have more access to more information
than at any other time in history. People can instantly find information
on almost any topic in the time it takes to type a couple of words and
click a mouse. But we often know so little about the source of this
information, including its reliability and the qualifications of the
person who wrote it. If we do not know its source, information is not
much good to us.Assignment: Do people need to know the source of any information
before they use it? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your
point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and
examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.